Archive for the ‘Green Hornet’ tag

In honor of Michel Gondry’s upcoming Green Hornet movie, I thought I’d go digging through the Hemmings classifieds not for a 1965 Imperial, but for an actual green Hornet. The closest I could find, however, was this green 1949 Hudson Super Six, which is still worth a look. From the seller’s description:

Originally an Arizona car. All original sheetmetal. Resprayed in factory correct color.

Older restoration that still shows real nice. There is some slight checking in paint on left rear sail panel that does not show in pics. Interior still shows nice and is correct per factory. Chrome and trim are excellent.

Very solid car that has been properly maintained and is a very nice driver that can be driven without issue.

Most of us are, by now, aware that Seth Rogen’s remake of The Green Hornet will be out in theaters on Friday, January 14, 2011. And you’d think that a die-cast of the masked hero’s Kato-driven Imperial would be a shoo-in for the toy aisles. Right?

Well, sort of.

There is a Green Hornet car miniature out there, but it’s not at your favorite toy aisle, and it’s not made of metal. (And no, we don’t mean the Johnny Lightning one that showed up about a decade ago.) The regional Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. burger-store chains are offering a variety of Green Hornet-themed kid’s-meal toy prizes this month, including a mask – but for our money, the winning toy is this 3-1/2-inch pullback Imperial.

There’s no interior or chassis detail. The all-plastic construction makes it impossibly light. Those cheap-looking wheels are molded-in – they don’t roll. (A set of dummy wheels, mounted behind the ones you see, allows it to roll.) Those two silver things on the hood are guns, not some sort of revolutionary air-induction device. And there’s that pullback feature that allows it to scurry across the kitchen floor, enthralling the kids and annoying the cat.

So what? It’s the Green Hornet‘s Imperial. And, as a bonus, you don’t have to buy a kid’s meal to buy the it – most Carl’s Jr. locations we visited would let the toys go alone for a buck each.

There is also an HO-scale all-metal keychain sold through Hardee’s and Carl’s.